Tuesday, August 31, 2010

So.Started homeschooling this week.LOVING IT.Great curriculuum. Motivated 2nd grader. Independant younger brothers. School was over in 2 hrs, 6 minutes today. Being who This Writer is, we began at 8AM, having already caffeinated myself and fed the boys, washed faces and changed clothes, made beds and had bible time as a family. Plus I read a few chapters in a book before that for my own benefit. Plus I think I did some laundry. Plus maybe something else, I can't remember.And seriously: I was NOT rushing us around. I may be efficient but I am NOT a lover of harried mornings, hence the Huge Bonus of homeschooling that I am most fond of.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Life at the Beach so far has been different. Good - but mighty different.

For starters no one says "all y'all" or even a singular "y'all" when referring to a group.

No one has a soft accent or says "bless your heart".

None of my neighbors are very... neighborly.

There's no fog.

~~~however~~~

There's family in town which means someone to spend random weekend days and weeknight evenings with when the Hub is working.

There's a good church very nearby.

There's a great Y nearby complete with impressive water park.

There are new friends. Mostly for me and the littlest boys so far.

The Beach. (Enough said.)

We do love life here.

Love our house, love our location, love alot of things.

So, things are good and we have mostly transitioned and the boys are thriving. They talk less about the Mountain and their buddies than I would have expected. I am not sure why. Sometimes This Writer wonders if when they are teens they will resent that we didn't talk about their old friends more and figure that I denied them that opportunity or something psychoanalytical like that.

Mostly I am just too deeply sad - really that's an insufficient word more like

sorrowful, mournful and heavyhearted -

when I consider the friendships they particularly left on the Mountain.

These friendships are not going to be reproducible, not even close and so far they are not even slightly replaced.

Bad News:

We are struggling more than in any other area in finding relationships for our children to develop.

Good News:

They are closer, less argumentative and more bonded to us and one another than ever.

Moving during the summer has maybe been best because it gave them closure from school activities and programmed unity as a class and has primed them for minimally-structured togetherness as a family.

It is truly a gift and one I do not undervalue.

The summer is setting like an orangey pink sun.

Schooltime ads are on every newspaper insert, every clothing commercial, assaulting us as we walk into the stores, offeringBrightly Colored Backpacks! and Lunch Boxes! and Random Folders and Papers and Pencils and Erasers and Other Important Stuff You Gotta Buy!

~~~however~~~

We are doing something different.

It's not an experiment exactly because we feel so keenly that it's what we are meant to do.

We will be homeschooling.

Doodlebug is so easy - such a flexible kid. He makes the choosing to do this as a family almost too easy because he could be content with whatever we decide.

It really is a strength of his, to be so flex.

This will be a First for us.

Neither the Hub or This Writer were ever homeschooled.

Neither of us has any issue with the public school system.

Neither of us feel this is our permanent choice for every child we have, every year.

But is came down to this...

We get 10 more years.

TEN.

Then Doodle is gone.

He won't want to snuggle daily, he won't want to be with his father endlessly, he won't want to sit on my lap, he won't probrably claim that his brothers are his best friends and his favorite activity isn't going to be "being with family".

Soon he will be adolescent.

He is almost 8.

8 more years and he will be driving a car, asking to date and eating me out of house and home, towering above me with (perish the thought:) hairy armpits and a deep voice.

10 more years till we are exploring colleges with him, visiting brick buildings and cinder blocked dorm rooms and white-tiled cafetierias, meeting with advisors who will want to direct him.

We get 10 more years.

We have discussed, researched, pros v. cons listed, explored and above all prayed desperately about the reasons to make this choice.

And there are plenty of other reasons to homeschool, too.

And since he hasn't made friends here yet there are reasons it seems counterintuitive to homeschool, too.

But the bottom line is this:

We get 10 more years.

It's an adventure.

We are diving into the Deep End for sure.

There's only a Life Preserver out here, no boats as far as the eye of this untrained teacher can see.

It's a huge, blue fathom of future and learning and there's no cheerful 2nd grade Mrs. Whatever waiting in a doorway to greet my son for Circle Time. This both thrills and terrifies me.